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ER and Broken Bones
February 6, 2008 |
Maxwell Sickels is a big fan of soccer. But a painful injury recently had him on
the sidelines. “I was dribbling the ball down the field and I was about to shoot
but somebody tripped over me on my back and I fell over and that person fell on
top of me,” Maxwell says. Seconds after the painful collision he knew something
was wrong with his arm. It felt like it got chopped off. It hurt really bad. They
just picked me up and dad said is it broken and I said yeah and he didn’t believe
me so they walked me off the field and there was a doctor and a nurse there they
helped me and put ice on it and stuff.” The next day Maxwell was taken to the hospital and he was surprised at what his physician told him. “They told me it was broken
and I didn’t believe them. But they showed me the x-ray and it was broken.” Maxwell
was able to fully recover from his fracture but emergency room physicians like Dr.
Larry Hobbs say that’s not always the case. “Children have what are called growth
plates that occur towards the end of the all the bones. If the fracture goes through
one of those growth plates it will stunt the growth of that bone and it will be
deformed. Also if the fractures are angulated or twisted in any way it will cause a decrease in function of that extremity or body part if it’s not realigned.” Dr.
Hobbs says fractures in children and elderly patients are quite common. He says
every day about ten percent of ER patients come in with broken bones. If your child
suffers an injury and complains of pain or swelling, physicians say it’s worth having
it x-rayed at an emergency room or urgent care center.
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